


Tarantism

by SingingCookie



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingCookie/pseuds/SingingCookie
Summary: Tarantism - The urge to overcome melancholy by dancing.





	Tarantism

Things were not as she wanted them to be. Aqua paced around the former stomping ground of her fellow Keyblade wielder’s in training, assessing for the first time how bad the damage really was. Large patches of land looked like they had cracked off. She couldn’t get to their old sparring spot—the path down was in shambles and she couldn’t risk falling to attempt the difficult trek down. Not when she had people depending on her.

She turned back toward the castle that she had lived in for a large portion of her life. Even that was a mess. In fact, there wasn’t much left at all, other than the main chamber. In no time, she had made her way up the steps, and stepped inside. Stained glass littered the floor, all of the windows blown in from whatever had caused all of the destruction when she had been away.

The colored, shattered glass had taken up her gaze. And she didn’t notice that she wasn’t alone. Not until a voice pierced through the silence, “Aqua.”

She lifted her head, and her blue eyes met his own. His name escaped her on instinct, her gaze drinking in that long brown hair and those familiar arms that were always so ready to comfort her. She raised her hand, fingers outstretched, and he followed suit. She needed that comfort right now with what all she had gone through—she almost smiled.

But instead, a hollow laugh escaped her and she brought her open palm up to shield her face. “What am I doing…this can’t be real,” Aqua muttered. She should have known that. The Land of Departure…it didn’t look like this anymore. She had changed its appearance when she hid Ven. And Terra…he was…

“Does that really matter?” She shivered when she felt his warm hand on her shoulder. Even if she realized that this was a hallucination or a dream brought about by her subconscious, it didn’t stop the imagined Terra from trying to give her some semblance of comfort.

Part of her said that of course it mattered, she couldn’t allow herself such moments of fantasy. Not when she had so much riding on the line. But then—“I don’t know.”

She felt the fingers of his other hand, gently pry her own away from her face. He was hunched down slightly, his expression taking in her own. She forgot just how beautiful he really was. He never liked when she said that which was why she wouldn’t say it now. But it didn’t make it any less true. “You’re suffering.”

Well, that was putting it lightly. But it didn’t relate to the fact that he wasn’t real. “And seeing you when I know you’re not real is supposed to help me somehow?” Clearly, she wasn’t as smart as he, the Master, or Ven liked to claim if that were the case.

“Even you need to have some fun once and a while.” She didn’t even have the chance to give a snappy reply before he continued, “And yes, even if it’s just in your head.”

She continued to stare into that familiar face—it felt like it had been centuries since she had seen him. And while she wanted to kick herself for indulging in this brief imagining, she would allow it if only to make sure that she wouldn’t forget the look of him as she attempted to wade through the hell that was the Realm of Darkness. “So what now then?”

His hand re-positioned to cradle the one in his grasp, while the other fell to grab her waist. “You always liked to dance, didn’t you?”

“I did.” She returned the movement, her free hand settling comfortably onto his shoulder. Dancing had always been a large part of her. Even her fighting style had resembled the dances she had enjoyed for so long. Terra and Ven would always praise her for her grace, and tease her for how wide open they would leave her to attacks at times. But she didn’t care. “You and I haven’t done this in years…” They began to sway, moving in the smallest of steps.

She only ever asked him to dance when she was feeling particularly low. It had started when they had met at a much younger age. Aqua had been torn up about Master Eraqus getting upset with them; and Terra had asked if there was anything he could do to help. She asked if he would dance with her, and he had obliged, not one to deny a crying friend.

It became a sort of tradition between them. She had even considered asking him after the Mark of Mastery Exam, because she felt just as bad as he did that he hadn’t been able to pass. But things happened so fast after that. And everything had spiraled out of control.

She closed the distance between them to rest her head on his strong chest. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep going.” She had never recalled her voice feeling so small.  “It’s so hard—going on, not knowing if you two will be okay. If  _I’ll_ be okay…”

“Of course you will.” It was instantaneous and left no room for questioning. She felt his head lean against the top of hers. “You’re so strong, Aqua. There’s no way you could possibly be anything else. You have to believe that.”

It ended all too soon. No sooner had he said that, did she wake up. She hadn’t recalled going to sleep. But she missed the feeling of being cradled in his arms, hearing his strong self-assured voice—she wished that she could have just stayed like that forever. She would have been fine if she never woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> This was another prompt I got on tumblr for these two. I wish I could have made it happier, but I was trying to be canon-compliant (as usual) and I realized there was nowhere during BBS where this could have happened. Plus, the word meaning itself has to do with melancholy so like. The sads were inevitable


End file.
